A New Way to Experience Music: Big Ocean

Amidst the global phenomenon of K-Pop, a new group that expresses music in a novel way has emerged. Debuted on April 20, 2024, a group called Big Ocean is South Korea’s first K-pop group composed of deaf or hard-of-hearing members.

Although many ask, “How can they perform music if they cannot listen?” Big Ocean answers this through an expansion of senses. Instead of relying solely on sound, they synchronize their movements by utilizing vibrations, visual cues, and a physical sense of rhythm. This transforms the simple act of listening into an experience of actually experiencing and feeling the music, and many audiences are drawn to Big Ocean’s novel forms of performance. 

Their performances incorporate Korean Sign Language (KSL). It is notable that the sign language functions not merely as a translation of the lyrics but as an essential part of the choreography. The hand movements convey meaning and make up artistic elements of the performance simultaneously. Indeed, the KSL fulfills both linguistic and artistic functions.

Big Ocean’s performance raises the question of whether music must rely on a single sense. And the answer to that question is expanding in increasingly diverse ways.